1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a telephone subset which has a desk and wall mount capability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Telephone subsets that combine desk and wall mount capability are known which position the handset in a north-to-south direction on the subset base, as shown in FIG. 1. It is necessary, in order to be able to change a subset of this type from desk to wall mount position, that the subset employ a hook-like tab which is mounted to the cradle area of the subset, as shown in FIG. 2, and engages a recessed area on the handset to hold the handset vertically as required. Such subsets require the plane of the dial buttons to be positioned parallel with the wall. To accomplish this parallel wall position, a wedge shaped part is attached to the bottom of the subset as shown in FIG. 2A. The ITT EKS-801 subset sold by ITT Corporation uses this arrangement for wall mounting. In other applications, such as the Panasonic KX-T2010 subset shown in FIGS. 1B and 2B, a leg is hinged back to accommodate wall mounting.
A disadvantage of this type of combination desk/wall subsets is that additional parts, usually in the form of an extra cost kit, must be purchased to convert from desk to wall mount. If parts are provided initially for wall mount conversion, and are not used, the user must store these in case he has need later on to convert the desk unit to a wall unit. Another disadvantage is that the necessary additional parts increase the cost of having wall mount capability. Yet another disadvantage is that special instructions are required as well as tools to convert a subset, which may prevent users from changing their subset.
Other known types of combination desk/wall subsets have the handset in an east-to-west direction on the subset base, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,076,244 (to E. S. McLarn), 2,492,375 (to H. P. Boswau et al.), and 2,199,686 (to S. A Beyland), as well as in Great Britain Patent Specification No. 738,714 (published Oct. 19, 1955, of W. Sinclair). The former two references disclose sets which require rotation of the dial, while the latter two references disclose sets which require removal and repositioning of the cradle.